Monthly Archives: December 2009

Justice Williams – Brummie of the Year?

With voting now open for Brummie of the Year we’re taking a look at all the candidates. Let’s find out about Justice Williams. Justice Williams, originally uploaded by punch records. She’s number 30 in the Birmingham Post Power 50, so they’ve done all our work for us: “This year, at the age of 28, Justice Williams became the youngest black woman in the UK to be awarded an MBE. She was honoured for her services to young people in Birmingham, including founding the Inner City Creative Media Group which trains 17 to 26-year-olds in media and business skills.”

With voting now open for Brummie of the Year we’re taking a look at all the candidates. Not blowing his own trumpet, it’s UB40′s saxophonist Brian Travers: UB40 / Brian Travers, originally uploaded by Sebastian Gerhard. Brian (or B-TUB as he might be known to Twitterers) is a founder member of UB40 and is still honking, squeaking and winking at the girls in the front row (that’s what all sax players do isn’t it?) some thirty years later. Not only that he’s still speaking up for Brum, and he’s been very vocal in the fight to save The Rainbow.

With voting now open for Brummie of the Year, we’re going to take a look at all the candidates. Here’s Paul Hadley of Rhubarb Radio: Paul is one of the driving forces behind Rhubarb — BIrmingham’s award winning online radio station — and Lyle Bignon says: “Paul Hadley has worked solidly for around 2 years to bring Rhubarb Radio to life, with great results. An absolute diamond geezer and great Brummie.”

With voting now open for Brummie of the Year, we’re going to take a look at all the candidates. It’s chef fella Glynn Purnell: We’ve no idea if he’s got as hearty a laugh a Rustie Lee, but he’s certainly popular. Nick Drew: “How many other Brummies won the AA National Restaurant of the Year AND made Tim Lovejoy look stupid on national TV in 2009? Answer: none. The man’s a legend.” & Birmingham Post Editor Marc Reeves: “He may be a bluenose, but no-one else serves up a haddock foam poached egg with curry oil like his.” “

With voting now open for Brummie of the Year, we’re going to take a look at all the candidates. This time king of dhols Gurcharan Mall. The Destroyers vs The Dhol Blasters, originally uploaded by jjbullock. Nominated by Julia Gilbert: “organiser of the World 501 Dholis world recording breaking dhol playing event, and the man behind Birmingham’s wonderful Dhol Blasters. He is a brilliant dhol teacher, who made me feel very welcome at the event and subsequent dhol classes. He is an very likeable man who recognises that music can transcend cultural differences.”

Birmingham "Parishroots"

No real idea what the aim of this site is – or who the authors are, but it seems to be collecting a deal of interesting historical stuff.

Books are easy to wrap up as Christmas presents, you know

I’ve read a couple of brilliant Brum-related books recently, and I thought I’d suggest that you should enjoy them too… The Invention of Air by Steven Johnson is a great book about Joseph Priestley — inventor of carbonated water (and hence fizzy pop), discoverer of oxygen and the first man in Birmingham to have what I fancy as a job (local luminaries paid him to muck about — erm, experiment — in return for hearing the results). His time in Birmingham — yes another Lunar Society member — was quite short, and ended in his house being burnt to the ground by religious zealots, but it was a time that epitomised the open collaboration between peers and the ground-breaking ideas that he had been striving for where ever he lived. The book is to a certain extent focused on his influence on the American founding fathers, Franklin and Adams, but it’s a read that doesn’t shy away from making parallels with the modern day — would that our scientists and engineers were equally at home talking politics and religion. If it whets an appetite for lunaticks try Lunar Men: The Friends Who Made the Future by Jenny Uglow which while...

With voting now open for Brummie of the Year, we’re going to take a look at all the candidates. This time multi-headed metal machine, Lisa and Jenny from Capsule: (not a great photo, but the only one I can find of them together…) Everyone knows what Capsule do, don’t they? Let’s get Pete Ashton to explain: “in 1999 Jenny Moore and Lisa Meyer decided they were fed up with travelling to see bands they liked so they started putting on gigs in Brum. In 2003 they put on a big gig and called it Supersonic. Now ten years on they’re put on hundreds of gigs and the Supersonic Festival is a world-renowned event. They don’t operate in a vaccum though, often working with arts and culture people across the region and have started the Home of Metal project to cement Birmingham’s reputation as the birthplace of heavy metal.”

With voting now open for Brummie of the Year, we’re going to take a look at all the candidates. First, the last of the pub-to-pub peddllers — Digbeth’s Mr Ralph. Let’s let Nicky Getgood explain: “Mr Ralph is something of a Digbeth institution, invariably found in one of the many Digbeth pubs, peddling customised goods from his battered old suitcases. Rumour has it he holds the last existing Birmingham pedlars license. I found Mr Ralph quite fascinating so I wrote a blog post about him after he kindly agreed to it, including photos of him and his Mr Ralph branded goods.”

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Monthly Archives: December 2009

Justice Williams – Brummie of the Year?

Brian Travers – Brummie of the Year?

Paul Hadley – Brummie of the Year?

Glynn Purnell – Brummie of the Year?

Gurcharan Mall – Brummie of the Year?

Birmingham "Parishroots"

Books are easy to wrap up as Christmas presents, you know

Capsule – Brummie of the Year?

Mr Ralph — Brummie of the Year?

@onBirmingham – Breaking Brum News on Twitter